anchor: let's get a round up of the top stories -- at least four protests in peru.killed in demonstrations began last week when the former president was impeached and arrested. his successor says she will ask congress to call early elections. reporter: earlier today, about 2000 people took over the airport in the second most important city in the country. they took over the runway, they

lit tires and there were clashes with police and there were clashes with police outside. these people took over one of the most important food companies and unfortunately, police said another person has been killed in these protests. anchor: the founder of the collapsed cryptocurrency company, ftx, has been arrested. sam bankman-fried has been taken into custody after the u.s. filed criminal charges against them. the senate banking committee said he refused to testify about how his company failed losing billions of dollars of client deposits. iran has executed a second prisoner linked to antigovernment protests. he was publicly hanged on monday. an iranian court convicted him of stabbing to security force

members to death during protests last month. the nigerian army is accused of killing scores of children in its war against armed groups. an investigation by reuters estimates thousands of children thought to be linked to armed groups were targeted. isil has claimed responsibility for an attack on a hotel in kabul on monday. afghan secure the forces say three armed men were killed after they stormed the building and opened fire. a libyan man accused of making the bomb that brought down pan am flight 103 in lockerbie has appeared in a u.s. court. he was taken into custody on sunday, two years after the justice department announced charges against him. the attack in 1988 killed all 259 people on board the plane and 11 on the ground. those are the headlines. inside story is next.

>> tensions between serbia and kosovo intensified, trigger by a dispute over car license plates. it has led to roadblocks and delayed local elections. what's the bigger issue at play and can the two sides find a way forward? this is inside story. ♪ laura: welcome to the program. i'm laura kyle. what appeared to be a simple dispute about car license plates has amplified tensions between

kosovo. because of a used to be part of serbia but ethnic albanians make up 92% of the 1.8 million people who live there. around 6% are ethnic serb and they say they have been marginalized. serbs began blocking border crossings on saturday after the arrest of a former policeman. 600 officers resigned last month in protest against kosovo's plans to ban serbian license plates. the serbian president blames kosovo for provoking the situation. >> today at the meeting, we discussed what we have to do. what is important as we appeal to albanians and serbs to calm the situation. i appeal to serbs in northern kosovo to be calm and not to fall for provocations. laura: our correspondent reports from belgrade. reporter: serbs from kosovo's

north are still blocking the main roads in that region, using trucks, buses and heavy machinery. at the same time, kosovo police are closing to order crossings. tensions are very high. here in belgrade, serbian national security council held a crisis session but the president declined to elaborate on the adopted steps. he said serbia demands the release of all serbs arrested by kosovo police. serbs locked the main roads saturday after the arrest of the former serb policeman. police later came under small arms fire in several locations and a stun grenade was thrown at a car of the eu mission in kosovo but there were no injuries reported. claims as serbia seeks to defuse tensions and underlined that

they must not engage against violence against you and troops. the eu, the united states and nato asked for the removal of barricades so they can continue further work on a solution for the normalization of their relations of serbia and its former president -- province that declared independence in 2008. laura: kosovo's prime minister accuses serbia of trying to destabilize the region. he has asked nato to step in. >> we call once again on the nato peacekeeping mission in kosovo to guarantee freedom of movement. the peacekeeping mission is supposed to create a calm and safe environment which means to have freedom of movement. the blocking of public roads with heavy machinery by criminal gangs that shot at police

officers is not acceptable and should not be repeated again in the future. we are waiting. laura: kosovo declared independence from serbia in 2008, 10 years after a war killed at least 13,000 people. the u.s. and major eu countries recognize kosovo breakaway but serbia refuses to do so. kosovo's membership at the u.n. is blocked by serbia's ally, russia. about 4000 nato peacekeepers remain on the ground. the eu began sponsoring talks between the two sides in 2013 but have made little progress. resolving the conflict is one of the main conditions for both countries to join the block. let's bring in our guests today. joining us is the chairman of the board of association of journalists of kosovo. in belgrade, the director of the

institute for national and international security. in new york, the director of the program on peace building and rights at columbia university. a warm welcome to all of you. let's start with what has been happening in northern kosovo. a lot of tension building up. what is the situation at the moment? guest: thank you for having me. as we speak, the serbs have barricaded roads that lead to the orders. they have set up on monday days off schools. in order to protest the arrest of a police officer on an attack -- for an attack that happened at the offices of a local

election committee. this was preparing everything for the 18th of december which were postponed due to the protests of the serbs. the -- he was visiting the sites of the barricade and said they are ready to stay there as long as it takes until this officer is released. his whereabouts are unknown because of the blocking of the roads. he is not able to be brought to a police station by kosovo police, so he is being held for 48 hours somewhere at the border. laura: the kosovo prime

minister's sounding fed up with the situation, saying they will let peacekeepers remove the barricades the serbs have set up, how is that likely to exacerbate the situation? guest: i think it will increase a lot of violence, but let's come back to the origin of the problem. it is basically the peace accord and the refusal of authorities to implement the society of the serbian men into polity. that's the cause of the problem -- the serbian municipality. that's the cause of the problem and you can see the consequence of the lack of the international community to bring two sides to the table and say who did not fulfill the peace accord. then they will have a much more clear situation.

we need peace, we need prosperity, we need integration and the most difficult situations arise when we don't know each other. it's that connections that are breaking up and we hope in the future we will have a better situation there. laura: you have broadened out the discussion quite significantly. before we get to is bigger, broadbrush issues, what is the situation. wire the ethnic serbs in kosovo's so unhappy? guest: because they did not fully implement the peace accord and they did not allow the society of the serbian me into polity. they signed an international contract but said this is not allowed by the constitution of kosovo and this is problematic

because international obligations are above. so far from the serbian side, that's what i learned from our serbian fellows. there is not this society of serbian communities and that's the main reason for the protests. guest: the the kosovo side, the latest protests began at the end of september when the kosovo government decided they had to switch from what the -- what were deemed illegal car plates and had to have new license plates.

the kosovo government claims they should have the same car plates. it was issued by the regime within names of kosovo cities and are a sign of serbian rule in kosovo during the 90's. serbia didn't want to implement this part of the agreement, including the ids all kosovo serbs have to have which are issued by kosovo authorities. so a deal was reached because every time you go to serbia, you have a special sheet of paper so you could only enter in serbia with that paper. kosovo wanted to do the same for serbia.

but they agreed no state will issue this papers and the car plates is something they opposed. so it led them to the kosovo government saying they will issue fines and confiscate the cars. after international pressure, kosovo gave up. [crosstalk] laura: we've got the license plate issue and i want to get an idea what the situation really is there. at the end of november, there was an agreement. the two sites came together, so give us an update from the outside perspective as to where we are actually at with this license plate issue. guest: the discussion about the asm is fake news.

kosovo is a model of minority rights through its constitution by adopting the principles during negotiations. what is happening here is serbia is looking to provoke a confrontation and it is not acting on its own. serbia is acting as a proxy of russia by involving nato in the dispute. it is trying to broaden the conflict. we need to understand this and broader geopolitical terms. kosovo was an ally of the west. it would not exist without nato's military intervention. russia wants to cancel that and create a new front in its confrontation with nato and metro pizza is a convenient spot for escalating tensions. it's important we step back and take a deep breath and recognize kosovo's sovereign and

independent. it has been recognized by more than 100 countries. serbia needs to accept the fact that lost kosovo because of its crimes and it is never going back under serbia's control. [crosstalk] laura: the eu was pretty angry with the kosovo prime minister raising this issue given that it is so sensitive. he was angry that he raised it at this time and caused these tensions. why did kosovo insist on causing these tensions? guest: it's about sovereignty and control. it's not about license plates. serbia has consistently rejected or stonewalled all the agreements reached through the brussels dialogue. it wants to undermine the state building project in kosovo and it wants to give the united states a blackeye because the u.s. is the primary backer of

kosovo's independence. so let's not make a mistake and focus on license plates or diplomas or area codes. this is a geopolitical struggle with serbia acting as russia's agent. laura: i think you would agree this is a geopolitical struggle and this is about something much bigger than license plates, but do you accept serbia is acting as a proxy for russia? guest: first of all, this kind of rhetoric does not bring us to this. we need to situation to calm down. if we use this argument that serbia is a proxy of russia, in that way kosovo is a proxy of the united states, so what do we have? i disagree completely with this and there is nothing in the peace accord regarding ids. everything started when they

government raised this issue without finalizing the municipality -- that society of serbian municipality. so i ask you, please calm down. we need diplomacy. we don't need this rhetoric from the 90's, etc. what we need now is more european union presence and let's put two sides on the table and agree who did not or who fulfilled the brussels peace accord. laura: the problem is does the serbian president agree with you? is he following that advice as well? he has requested serbian police to be stationed in northern kosovo. he knows that's not going to happen. it's only going to inflame the situation. guest: this is very simple. who started the issue of car

plates? there's not even a sentence with our friend -- nothing in the peace accord about id or car plates. so it is provocative language but i don't want to blame no one. let's talk, let's agree, let's calm down the situation and let's not call each other u.s., russia, whatever proxies. let's talk and find out solutions. even the european union recognizes, the special envoy of the united states, he also recognized they did something they should not and that is why there is the pressure not to impose the decision on car plates, etc. without any prior agreement. laura: do you accept it is

difficult for some 50,000 ethnic serbs to live in kosovo even history? guest: i lived my life in kosovo and part of the time i was a refugee as a teenager and made a refugee because of serbian aggression against kosovo. i've been living here close to serbian neighbors for many years. not just in the northern part of kosovo but other parts of kosovo as well. when kosovo declared independence in 2008, it took obligation to respect minority rights. just 4% of the population is serbian and they have been all these years guarded by nato troops. i know there's a lot of work to do generally when it comes to

economic and never spread not accepting -- when it comes to economic endeavors. but it makes it harder for serbs to live there, the fact they are ruled here and [indiscernible] it makes it difficult for them to integrate in kosovo society. laura: do you think the ethnic serbs and kosovo are being let down by the leaders in belgrade? guest: more than let down, they are being manipulated. they are can fodder in a broader conflict. let's remember that he was milosevic's chief propagandist and is now continuing the melissa vish agenda to establish

a greater serbia by seizing control of territories where serbs live. today, especially with european integration, this is increasingly less important. what is important is international standards, a bill of rights, minority rights. kosovo is an example of a country that has fully embraced minority rights, protections for its ethnic serbs citizens. instead of trying to upset relations, serbia should withdraw these barricades. kosovo serbs should find ways of interacting with their counterparts, kosovo albanians. i'm proud my family has sponsored a library where kosovo serbs at kosovo albanians can come together and meet and cooperate. my teenage daughters were involved in that project. there is no reason why people can't get along unless they are

manipulated by external forces. laura: what will it take for the leaders in belgrade to recognize kosovo as an independent nation? guest: agreement. first of all kosovo was never independent. it's a sovereign part of serbian territory. many european countries like spain, romania, cyprus, they do not recognize kosovo independence. if you talk about background and politicians, we can talk about the -- [indiscernible] he was the spiritual father -- if you talk about the past -- [crosstalk]

[crosstalk] laura: what needs to happen for a final agreement to occur between kosovo and serbia? that's the only solution that is going to work, that's going to end 20 years of conflict. guest: they have to fulfill international obligations, that means to create the society of the serbian municipality. laura: serbian municipalities in northern kosovo? guest: it's the association of serbian municipalities. it is an agreement signed in 2013 by kosovo and serbia and brussels.

the agreement says it should have the opinion of the constitutional court. 23 of the articles -- they constitutional court said it should be created. so all these years, the discussion was how it should be created, not to be something similar which would make kosovo a dysfunctional state. everyone knows kosovo has to compromise and it would be given greater autonomy, even greater than the one which was the basis of kosovo declaring independence in close relations with the democratic world.

laura: what steps are being taken to reach this final agreement, this lasting solution ? is the eu and u.k. and u.s. involved enough making this happen? guest: no, they are not involved enough in the architecture of mediation that puts the e.u. front and center is flawed. there will be no deal between serbia and kosovo unless the u.s. is a co-chair leading the negotiations. instead of deferring to the eu, the u.s. has to step up and it needs to make its positions clear. it needs to knock some heads together so we can get to a deal. let me just say a word about the association of serbian municipalities. it was agreed to, it should be implemented. but in this case, there should be symmetry and reciprocity and serbia. in the valley where you have albanian municipalities, it, too, should have extensive autonomy and cultural and political rights.

the only way we will get to an agreement is if we see all sides prepared to accommodate the demands of citizens and move forward with a democratic and rights package. laura: i'm afraid our time is up. i'm sure we will revisit this topic again to see the discussion moving forward. thank you to all of our guests for joining us today. thank you for watching. you can see the program any time by visiting our website, al jazeera.com. for further discussion, do go to our facebook page. you can join the conversation on twitter. our handle is at a.j. inside story. from me in the whole team here, goodbye for now.

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